Suryakumar Yadav can give value at whatever number he bats: Saba Karim

Former Indian selector Saba Karim hailed Suryakumar Yadav for his versatility and felt that the Mumbaikar can be used as a floater for the side ahead of Asia Cup 2022. India will start their campaign in the multi-nation tournament on August 28 against their arch-rivals Pakistan in Group A fixtures and all eyes will be on the playing XI. The 31-year-old notched up a fantastic century from the middle order in England and opened in the four games in West Indies where he looked in excellent touch.

Suryakumar has made himself undroppable which means that one of Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik will get the nod as wicketkeeper-batter. Hardik Pandya will definitely make the playing XI given his all-round prowess while Virat Kohli, despite not having the best of forms, is likely to bat at number three throughout the tournament.

My fixed 3 positions at the top would be Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli: Saba Karim

Karim mentioned that Surya’s multi-dimensional abilities will be useful to push him up the order if needed or he can accelerate straightaway coming at the halfway stage of the innings. He noted the value that Suryakumar brings into the side at any position and wanted the Indian middle order to be floaters who can adjust to situations. He added that Rishabh Pant can also bring a left-handed option into the mix and revealed his top three in the batting lineup of India.

“Suryakumar Yadav is such a multi-dimensional player, I can keep him as a floater. I can push him up the order, if my two openers bat say till the 7th-8th over, I can push in SKY then. Or in case it is required, I can also push him down the order because he’s such a player who can give me value at whatever number he bats and I’m looking at my 4-5-6 as floaters,” Karim told while speaking exclusively on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’.

“I will in fact keep Rishabh Pant very handy. Because if I feel that I need to push in a left-hander at the top of the order, I can do that as well. But as of now my fixed 3 positions at the top would be Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli,” he added.